a girl and her blog

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

i've been thinking about writing this post for a very, very long time....

girl starts blog.

girl's blog eventually starts getting readers, many in fact.

girl continues to blog.

girl gets first pitch from a company to write about something on her now traffic worthy blog.

girl gets excited!

girl writes about things that she thinks are fun and that her readers would enjoy.

the girl also gets some really cool stuff, and gets to go to some really cool events for doing so.

the girl with the blog is happy.

that is until the girl is suddenly spending more time writing and promoting events and products for other people instead of having fun writing for herself...

...which was why the girl started the blog in the first place.

blogging suddenly becomes a chore.

the girl can't manage all the pitches filling up her email inbox and starts to feel guilty when she can't make an event or doesn't feel like writing about something.

the girl just wants to write for herself but the last thing she wants to do is not promote her city, her passions, and her friends.

the girl doesn't want to seem ungrateful...

... but there just aren't enough hours in the day.

"eff this!", the girl says, "this is my blog and i'm taking it back."

the girl starts deleting/turning down pitches.

the girl is going to start writing for herself again.

the girl is happy.

... for now.

this blog is a relationship after all, the longest relationship the girl's ever had, and it just so happens to be evolving.

you'll have that.

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p.s. this doesn't mean that i'm never going to accept a pitch or talk about events/organizations that i enjoy, it just means that i'm going to be a bit more selective. all while NOT feeling guilty if i don't write about something - which is what i'm struggling with the most.

Good for you Alexa for taking back your blog! I adore you and always look forward to coming over here to read, and will continue to do so. I think we all go through cycles with our blogs and the relationships we have with them do change and evolve. Good for you for writing and being happy!

I think a lot of people will relate to this blog, Alexa. Maybe not to the level of celebrity of your blog. But, we all had our reasons for starting. And then opportunities were introduced. And we become sucked into that world of possibility. At some point, many of us re-evaluate why we got into blogging in the first place. I went back to the basics last year when I got rid of ads on my blog. And I've never done paid reviews. And only once done an event sponsored by a manufacturer. I applaud where you've landed today. I hope you'll enjoy blogging again!

Good for you!! I see quite a few bloggers change their style once they hit a certain level of popularity. They try and promote things and advertise and write "how to be as awesome and popular as me" guides. Which kind of makes me lose interest anyway. I'm so glad you're staying true to yourself!

hi

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Some would say I'm a 36-year-old marketing professional who has been blogging about her life in Cleveland since '08. I would say I love cooking, drinking bubbles and wearing black. My Mom (and husband) would say I'm just nuts.